Boots on the Ground: The Technology I Use

James L Clark, (US Army Civil Affairs soldier serving in Iraq), draws his personal history of war inspiration inspired by past war historians, and takes full advantage of personal media to record his personal history of the war in Iraq. He describes the equipment he uses to make photos, video, and audio recordings.

Not many people think about their deployment as being anything more than just that—a deployment. They accept their responsibility, duty, and privilege to serve our country in a war zone as “just part of the job.” The problem with this thinking is that it ignores the incredible opportunity that each soldier has to document not only “the” war but “their” war.

Dr. Forest C. Pogue was an official US Army historian during WWII and attained the rank of master sergeant. He was a proponent of “oral history” techniques and collected many such histories from the war during his career. During D-Day, Dr. Pogue (then SGT Pogue) interviewed wounded soldiers about their experiences both on the transport from the beaches and on the hospital ship anchored off the coast.

[…]To me, history is a living, breathing thing; it is the story of mankind. History offers a glimpse into who we are, what we do, why we do it, and so on. It is impossible to put a value on it; it is more precious than gold. And everyone has a history—a story to tell. Yours in just as valuable as mine, and mine is just as valuable as the President’s. That is why I feel it is so important to document one’s experiences in life; not just in war, but in daily life.

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Family Stories. Everyone has 'em.

They tell where you come from. They hold secrets to who you are. This site explores how to use digital tools and media to record and preserve spoken memories of family members. Your host: Susan A. Kitchens (I got into this by talking to my grandpa; at the time he was 99 years old.)